


Marching into love

by Safora11



Category: Vis a Vis | Locked In (Spain TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Military, Angst and Feels, Army, F/F, Lesbian Sex, Secrets, Slow Burn, Smut, Soft Zulema Zahir, Sorry Not Sorry, Zule can't make up her damn mind, this is really gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:53:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27774097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Safora11/pseuds/Safora11
Summary: Macarena joins the army. Zulema is a badass corporal with a huge secret. Do I need to say more? It's going to be a slow burn but it's gonna be worth it! I update weekly!
Relationships: Helena Martín/Zulema Zahir, Macarena Ferreiro/Zulema Zahir
Comments: 54
Kudos: 86





	1. Block 6

Chapter 1

"Ferreiro" an ice old voice yelled out Macarena's name, making her stand up straight right away before answering.

"Yes Ma'am" she said with a firm tone, trying to sound stern as well. This was her first day at the base and she wanted to prove that she was though enough to be there.

The dark haired woman took a few steps closer to Macarena. Her many medals shining in the light of the large hall.

"You're in block 6" the woman said before a confused look flashed in her eyes "You're Leopoldo's daughter?" She asked.

Macarena nodded, " _Si señora_ " she answered with a hint of sadness flashing across her face.

Her father , a high ranking officer witin the army, had died while he was on a top secret army mission for the government. Macarena had been completely torn apart by her father's passing for months. When she had finally come to terms with his death she decided to join the army after she finished college, as a sort of homage to him. Her mother had been firmly against it at first but she had no other choice but to agree, Macarena was an adult after all.

"He was a brave soldier." The woman said before she yelled out the name of the next cadette on the list.

Macarena looked at the name tag on the woman's uniform and read her name 'Sgt Vargas.' She had never heard her dad speak about a Sargent Vargas and she wondered where the woman knew her dad from.

Sargeant Saray vargas yelled out the last name on the list and then told everyone to take their bags to their designated sleeping blocks.

Macarena walked down a very long hallway, she noticed that all the walls in the base were painted black. The whole place looked stern and serious but also strangely homely. In some ways it calmed her, it made her feel steady and grounded. It reminded her of her dad.

Macarena reached block 6. It was a big room with a bunch of bunk beds in it.

There were man and women at this base and blocks one to five were reserved for all the male cadettes. Block six and seven were for the female cadettes. There were obviously way more male cadette that female ones.

'well... home sweet home' she thought as she put her duffle bag down on the lower half of one of the neatly made bunk beds. She sat down on the matress and sighed she was tired from the long trip she had.

Macarena heard the bunk bed creak before she saw a bush of dark brown curly hair starting to stick out from the top bunk followed by the face of a girl smiling widely at her. "

Bunkmates!" The caramel skinned girl said as she climbed down the bed and stood in front of Macarena.

" _Mi nombre es estefania_ , Nice to meet you!" The curly haired girl said cheerfully and held out her arm for Macarena to shake her hand.

"Macarena" she introduced herself with a smile, "Nice to meet you too."

The girl sat down next to Macarena on the bed "Where are you from? How old are you?"

She asked. Macarena was happy that at least someone was being nice to her. Until now all the other cadettes have presented her with nothing but grumpy looks.

"I'm 24 and I'm from Madrid, well I was born in Alacá but I grew up in the city." Macarena answered, " _Qué hay de tí_?"

The curly haired woman answered and they had a small conversation, getting to know each other a little. They were bunkmates after all, they were going to spend allot of time together. Macarena learned that Estefania was from Bilbao, her parents send her into the army right after she turned 21, they were tired of her not having a job and not helping out around the house, she didn't want to go to college after highschool either so they suggested she joined the army.

A few hours later a higher ranked male soldier came into the block and handed out weekly schedules to all the cadettes, without saying a word he disappeared out the door again.

Maca and Estefania looked at the piece of paper together.

The first thing Macarena noticed was that they had to wake up every morning at 5.00 AM. They had different trainings every day except for Saturday, that was their only day off.

________________________________

The next morning Macarena and all the other cadettes in block 6 were suddenly awoken by very loud trumpet sounds.

"Uhg, how fucking cliche are those trumpet sounds?" she heard Estefania groan from the bunk above her.

The door to the room flew open, Sargent Vargas stepped in, her boots making loud stomping notices as she walked over to the beds.

"Get up everyone, you all have 15 minutes to all get showered and wear the uniforms you were given yesterday. I want you to be in the main hall at 5.15." she yelled loudly. "Do NOT be late." She added before marching out of the door again on her way to the next room.

Macarena looked at Estefania and they burst out in laughter "15 minutes? How am I supposed to get ready in 15 minutes?" The curly haired woman said.

Maca shrugged and got up to walked o the female bathing quarters that she was shown yesterday. The bathing quarters was just a big room with showers and toilettes. There were no walls or doors between the showers. There was no privacy whatsoever.

Macarena was bout to step under a vacant shower when a woman stepped in before her.

"Excuse me?!" Macarena asked with an attitude. "I was about to shower, I waited just like everyone else here did."

The woman turned around and looked at Macarena with a nonchalant look, not saying a single word and turned on the shower.

Maca scoffed and decided to just walk away. She did not need trouble on her first day of training in the army, and she wasn't going to have her mood messed by some stupid _puta_.

She walked over to the mirror and just washed her face and brushed her teeth before applying mascara and some lipgloss.

Just a few minutes later all the cadettes arrived at the main hall just like Sargeant Vargas had told them to and surprisingly nobody was late.

The cadettes were standing around waiting for instructions when suddenly the loud voice of Sargeant Vargas sounded again.

"All of you, stand in a single line next o each other and shut up." She yelled as she waited for the cadettes followed her orders.

Macarena made sure she stood next to Estefania in the line. She felt like the curly haired girl was going to be her only friend at the base.

The cadettes were standing in line for about ten whole minutes when the doors to the main hall flew open, making a loud clashing sound as they clashed with the wall.

In walked a woman. Slender in posture but in a strange way very intimidating. Maybe it was the venemous look in her sharp green eyes. Maybe it was her shoulder length raven black hair tied back with her bangs sticking out slightly from under her cap.

The woman had at least thirty medals attached to her uniform, way more than even Sargeant Vargas, meaning she had a very high rank within the army, just like Maca's dad used to have.

Sargeant Vargas stood up straight and saluted the woman. That's when Macarena realized the woman must be a some kind of big shot within this devision of the army.

The raven haired woman didn't say a word as she stepped closed to the cadettes. Walking slowly as she followed the line, looking at al the new cadettes. Her heavy boots drumming against the floor with each step she made.

When she reached Macarena she stopped and stepped closer to her. The green eyed woman looked straight into Maca's eyes and lifted one of her eyebrows. She purshed her lips slightly at the blonde cadette before walking down the rest of the line.

 _What did that mean? Does she dislike me already? Why is she not saying anything?_ Macarena's thoughts went wild and she started overthinking the look she just got from the older woman.

The woman stood next to sargent Vargas before clearing her throat and starting to finally speak.

"My name is Corporal Zulema Zahir, I run this base, if you get in trouble you'll have to deal with me." The woman said calmly but also very sternly. "I'll also be providing all of you with combat training. I'll make good soldiers out of all of you." She added.

A male cadette started laughing a bit. Appearing to find this whole thing rediculous.

"So this whole base is ran by a chick?" He said, not being able to keep his laughter at Bay. "You're a tiny old lady, how am I supposed to take this seriously?"

"This tiny old lady single handedly captured a group of fourth sodiers in the libyan intervention war, she went undercover in fucking ISIS and saved twelve captured spanish soldiers who otherwise would have been killed!" Sargeant Vargas yelled at the cadette, but she was stopped by Zulema's hand signaling for her to stop talking.

Zulema approach the cadette and smiled at him innocently.

" _Abofetearme_ " She simply said, her smile never leaving her face.

The cadette laughed even louder before saying: "I'm not going to hit a wom-" He was cut off by Zulema's hands pushing against his chest, making him stumble backwards.

This triggered the male cadette to launch forward and swing at the raven haired Corporal.

She ducked. He missed.

He swung his fist at her again, she ducked again and he missed again.

He swung once again, this time with much more force. And this time Zulema didn't duck. She stopped his fist mid air with one of her hands. The cadette tried getting his hand back buck it was like Zulema's hand was an iron trap. He grunted as he struggled to get his hand back as Zulema look straight inyo his eyes. Zulema threw her head back and laughed as she made the cadette bow down on his knees and yell out in pain with just a simple twist of her hand.

' _she's amazing_ ' Macarena thought to herself. The woman had so much strength and skill that it took here only seconds to get a grown man crying on his knees and begging for her to let him go.

Sargent Vargas was right, Corporal Zahir was a total bad ass.

She was pulled out if her thoughts by Zulema's voice telling the cadette to get back in line after she released him, her voice just as calm as before. She pulled a piece of paper out if her pocket and started to explain the weekly schedule to the cadettes.

"That was so fucking cool, do you think we'll be able to do that later on, Maca?" Estefania whispered to Macarena Just loud enough so the blonde could hear her.

Maca smiled to herself, imagining how great it would make her feel to be that good at combat.

"I don't know, but it was really cool." She whispered back to Estefania.

When she turned her face back to the Corporal she noticed that the woman was already looking at her.

"Anything you want to share with the rest of us, _Rubia_?" Zulema asked, her eyes fixated on the blonde cadette.

"No." She said quickly she added a quick "ma'am" at the end.

Zulema stepped closer to her once again. This time she was so close that Macarena could smell a whiff of the lavender scented soap the corporal had used. She smelled good.

And being this close, Macarena noticed that the woman was quite good looking. Her mysterious green eyes, framed by thick black lashes were a dead giveaway that she was definitely not fully Spaniard, maybe not even spanish at all.

"Well I thought maybe you and _Rizos_ over here would feel more at home working at a teashop instead of being a soldier since you like talking so much." The older woman said, her head nodding towards Estefania, who hadn't even dared looking at Zulema.

"We'll be quiet Corporal. I- I'm sorry." Maca said, hoping to soothe the rather embarrassing situation they were in.

"I- I- I'm sorry." Zulema imitated Macarena's last statement mockingly and flashed her a warning look before she continued explaining the schedule.

Macarena felt something inside her stir. Corporal Zahir was scary to say the least but in some way Macarena wanted to know much more about her.

The cadettes got their first combat training from Corporal Zahir that day. After that they had lunch followed by an afternoon of physical fitness training.

At the end of the day, Macarena was so tired that she went straight to bed. Most cadettes also went to sleep right away. It had been a rough day and their bodies ached. ____________________________________ That night at around 10 PM Sargeant Vargas and the other staff gathered in Zulema's office for a drink.

They usually had drinks after the first day of training new recruits. Mostly to discuss how funny it had been to see how scared they were but also just to relax.

Saray Vargas an Zulema had been friends who had joined the army together they had become best friends over the years.

Fabio Martìnez used joined the army at a young age and then decided to continue his studies. Years later he felt the need to turn back to the army. He was a true soldier.

Antonio Hierro had been send to join the base as a staff member not too long ago.

They already downed quite a few glasses of tequila when a knock sounded on the door and in walked a brown haired woman, brown eyes and femanine features. she was wearing cargo pants and a white tank top, she had obviously taken off the top part of her uniform after a long day.

The woman's eyes met firstly with Zulema's as a soft smile appeared on her face.

"Helena. You're late, we agreed to all meet here at 10." Saray said as she tapped her wrist, pretending to point to a watch.

Helena rolled her eyes in a playful manner.

"Saray, _cállate_." She simply answered before walking to the empty chair next to Zulema.

She saw Zulema tense up just a tiny bit, nobody else noticed but she did.

Helena Martìn and Zulema Zahir had been dating for the past two years. All the other higher ranked soldiers knew about it but it was definitely a secret to keep from the cadettes and recruites since dating within the base was strictly forbidden.

Helena had came in as a cadette herself. Her exceptional weaponary skills earned her higher ranks than the other cadettes she was required with and she quickly became a celebrated weapon expert within in the army.

They had all become good friends in their past couple of years at the base.

After a few drinks everybody was a bit tipsy except for Hierro who was just shit faced drunk, wich didn't matter because tomorrow was his day off anyway.

"That ginger kid with the dead eyes, had he looked so scared when I yelled at him I almost wanted to cry myself" Hierro copied the boy's face and everybody laughed.

Sargeant Antonio Hierro was in charge of the physical training at the base, Wich suited him well because everybody that knew him knew that he was basically obsessed with himself and his physical looks.

"I'm going to have so much fun training them tomorrow." Helena tells the others before taking her Tequilla glass of the table and chugging it down in one hit.

"I'm going to the toilet for a sec, be right back." Zulema said before getting up and walking out if the room.

She walked to the toilets and stared at herself as she took out her hairy to redo her ponytail.

Her mind traveled to a certain blonde cadette that she met today. Something about the woman made Zulema curious to know who she was and why she was even here. She didn't look like the kind of girl that would join the army.

A set of arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her out of her thoughts and back into the present.

Helena.

"You look hotter with your hair down, _mi amor_." She said before landing a small kiss on Zulema's cheek.

Zulema turned around, wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and connected their foreheads.

"Are you saying I don't look hot with my hair up?" she whispered as their eyes connect.

"I think you look hot no matter what." One of her hands unwrapped from Zulema's waist and traveled up her back to her hair, followed by a gentle tug on it.

"But, ponytails are only for me to pull on in bed." The last sentence came out in a seductive purr.

Zulema leaned forward and placed a kiss on the other woman's nose. A smile appeared on both of their faces before their lips brushed together.

Helena's breathing hitched when she felt Zulema's soft lips tracing her neck and bare shoulder. She couldn't hold in the small giggle that escaped her mouth. She lulled her head back when she felt the lips trace across her throat before their eyes locked again.

"We need to get back to the office before everyone starts to wonder where we are." Zulema started to let go of Helena and turned back to the mirror, giving herself one last look before pecking the brown haired woman's lips once more.

"We'll finish this another time." And with that Zulema made her way out of the toilet.

The staffmembers had a few more drinks together beforr they decide it was time to rest before another day of training the cadettes.

They all needed to wake up earlier that the cadettes to get ready before them.

________________

Macarena had set her silent alarm at 4:00 in order to be able to shower that day. She was not about to go through another day without taking a shower, even if that meant getting even less sleep than everybody else.

She snuck out if bed, hoping the cracking sound wouldn't wake up Estefania, or Rizos as she now called her.

She made her way to the bathing quarters, still tired as hell from the day before She stepped under one of the showerheads and turned in the water.

There were no settings to make the water warmer it colder, there was lukewarm water and that's all there was.

The water drenched her hair and it felt amazing and soothing for her aching muscles. She lathered herself up with the victoria secret soap her mom had gifted her for Christmas.

She thought about her family. Her mother and father had always been great parents. Her mother was a stay at home him and het father was a general in the army. When he was called in for yet another mission for the spanish government Macarena didn't worry at all, he had been doing those her for as long as she could remember. When the news came of his passing, Macarena didn't even want to believe it at first.

Maca also had a brother, he worked as a lawyer, he had always wanted the best for his little sister and when he heard that she wanted to join the army he talked her into finishing her last year if college first. And so she did.

The water was starting to feel cold against her skin so maca turned of the shower and wrapped herself in a soft towel that she had also taken from home.

She turned around to get her clotches from where she put them on one of the benches when she crashed into another body.

Hazel eyes met with green ones.

"Cadette, why are you awake so early?" Zulema's voice sounded. Sounding way less though than it had earlier during training.

Macarena could smell the alcohol on the corporal's breath. She was standing so close . Too close.

" _Lo siento_ " she said, "I just wanted to shower because yesterday morning I didn't get a chance to do so, Ma'am."

Zulema looked at Macarena with hooded eyes. Taking in all of Macarena's features.her her pink lips slightly agpe. Her skin, perfect, without blemishes. The way her blonde hair stuck to her cheeks as her bright eyes starting back at Zulema full of question. Waiting for her next move.

"Well..." zulema said, she was about to lecture the cadette about what the rules were concerning staying in bed until 5 AM but something about the look in the blondes eyes wouldn't let her. "It's fine. Because I'm in a good mood. Don't tell the others. They might think I have a favorite." She winks at the blonde.

 _'Why did I do that? I'm not supposed to do that.'_ Zulema thought to herself. She blamed it on the alcohol and toughened up her demeanor and shook the thoughts out of her head before speaking again.

"Are you done?" Her tone stern again.

Maca nodded and swallowed visibly, Unable to answer the Corporal. It was like whenever the woman spoke to her Maca's tongue forgot how to speak back.

"Get out then." The raven haired corporal said. Her dominant demeaned showing again.

Maca tore her eyes away from Zulema, grabbed her clothes of the bench and made her way out of the room.

She turned and bumped into somebody who was just making their way into the bathing quarters.

Saray nodded at her and the word "cadette." Was the only word Macarena received as a greeting from the Sargeant in front of her.

Not saying a word maca slips passed the high ranked soldier standing in front of her and made her way back to her bunk.

She looked at the clock. She still had about thirty minutes of sleep left before the sound of those horrible trumpets would wake her up again.

She closed her eyes and the last thing she saw before her mind drifted to sleep were a set of sultry green eyes staring at her. ________________________________________

"What the fuck was that, Zule?" Saray looked at Zulema with a concerned look in her eyes, waiting for an answer.

Zulema didn't answer and started undressing to take a shower. She didn't even know what that was herself. The blonde cadette had a way of making Zulema feel... Soft. She couldn't even explain it to herself. It was probably the alcohol messing with her head.

Saray put her hand on Zulema's shoulder and turned her around.

She had seen Zulema stand almost body to body with a cadette in the bathing quarters. She saw the way Zulema looked at her.

"What was that look you gave that cadette?" She asked again this time with a more serious tone in her voice.

Zulema looks at her, annoyed at the question, "Nothing. Don't give me that look."

"Do you know who she is?" Sarah asked.

 _"El coño conejo de Pascua_?" Zulema said mockingly, rolling her eyes at her friend.

"Her name is Macarena Ferreiro, Leopoldo Ferreiro's daugher." Saray said softly. Knowing it would have an Impact on Zulema.

Zulema's eyes went big, why was Leopoldo Ferreiro's daugher here? At her base of all military bases they could have send her to.

This was not good. Not good at all.


	2. Please don't break my heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let me start off with an apology. I am really sorry for updating this late. I feel so shitty for delaying this chapter. This chapter has been done for a while now, I just didn't have the time to energy to check the spelling and grammar (English is not my fist language). I hope you guys still feel like reading it! 
> 
> If there is anyone out there who could check my spelling and grammar from the next chapter on, I'd greatly appreciate it, so please let me know!
> 
> ⚠️ This chapter contains SMUT!

Chapter 2

That morning after Zulema called headquarters about having Macarena Ferreiro transferred to another base Zulema didn't even feel like having any breakfast.

They had informed her that there was basically no way for Macarena Ferreiro to be transferred to another unit, due to her family being a major sponsors for the Spanish army. 

She couldn't even swallow a single bite of the food in front of her as the questions were still running through her mind, keeping her on edge. 

She needed to know why the fuck Leopoldo Ferreiro's daugher was here. The blonde didn't even seem like the type of person to join the army at all. 

Zulema had looked into the blondes file. She went to an amazing college and she could have had a great job, contributing greatly to society and definitely making much more money than she currently is making here at the base. It just didn't make any sense for the blonde to be there. 

What if Macarena Ferreiro was here because she knew Zulema's secret? The thought alone put Zulema's stomach in knods, because that would definitely result in Zulema being in a shitton of trouble. 

Sighing deeply, she got up and emptied her still full plate in the trashcan before throwing it in the sink.

She made her way towards the shooting range where she knew the new cadettes, including Ferreiro, would be training at the moment.

It didn't even take more than three secondsds for Zulema to spot _la Rubia_ within the group of cadettes that were standing in a line, separated by large screens as they aimed their guns at the targets across the room.

The familiar, loud sound of gunshots sounding making Zilema's ears ring slightly.

Macarena aimed her gun at the target across the room and tried to focus her eyesight as good as she could, before pulling the trigger. 

BANG! 

The pistol fired, the loud sound making Macarena stumble backwards a bit as her ears started to ring. 

Today was only their fourth day at the base and they had just started their first weapon handling lesson with real weapons from Sargeant Martìn. 

Sargeant Helena Martìn was a wonderful teacher. Unlike most of the other Sargeants that were tasked with training the cadettes in their new skills, she was very sweet and treated the upcoming soldiers with kindness and respect. 

Her brown shoulder length hair framed her face perfectly as her big brown eyes stared at the cadettes. With her sultry voice and gentle demeanor she would without a doubt be the subject of many of the male and even female cadettes dreams. 

Macarena was glad that she was guided trough her first time shooting a firearm by such a gentle woman. She had always been afraid of guns, and shooting one wasn't easy for her.

Macarena aimed again and shot. Completely missing her target once again. 

"That was horrible, _Rubia_." Corporal Zahir's voice sounded from behind as soon as Maca's ears stopped ringing from the gunshot. 

Maca could feel her own breathing stopping for a split second as the deep yet feminine voice reached her. 

Maca put her gun on lock before turning to Zulema.

"This is my first time shooting a gun, ma'am" she said, trying to sound respectful towards her Corporal.

The raven haired woman grabbed Macarena's hand that was holding the gun and moved to stand behind her as she aimed the gun at the target. With one swift flick of her finger she unlocked it again.

Hot breaths were exhaled against Maca's neck and cheeck and Zulema's other hand was placed on her hip, rotating her slightly to get her in a steady position. 

The hand on the gun let go of macarena's hand and joined the other one on one of macarena's hips. 

Macarena could feel Zulema press her body against her back and she let out a shaky breath at the contact. She couldn't help but arch backwards ever so slightly, craving more contact from the brunette. 

Zulema noticed the small movement from Macarena and bit her own lip to stop herself from inhaling sharply. Something about the blonde made her...curious in more ways than one. She quicky blamed it on her anxiety.

"Okay, now keep your hand right there..." Zulema whispered into Macarena's ear. 

A soft squeeze in Macarena's hips was followed by the corporal's voice commanding her to pull the trigger.

Macarena was confused. How was the contact with this woman making her feel so... Hot. 

" _Disparar, Rubia_." Zulema said, still holding on to Macarena's hips before the shot was fired. 

The bullet connected with the target on the other side of the room, bullseye.

"Much better, but, keep practicing, _Rubia_." Zulema let out a small laugh, sending chilling shivers down Macarena's body, reaching all the way to her core. 

" _Gracias_ , Corporal." Macarena said

Zulema was about to say something when She heard her name being called.

_____________________

The sight of one of the cadettes shooting a perfect bullseye cought Helena's attention right away.

She looked over and saw Zulema standing behind a blonde Cadette, holding her hips. Then she saw her girlfriend smile before letting go of the Cadettes hips, stepping backwards. 

Helena's blood boiled. What was Zulema doing? Why was she standing so close to the cadette?

She walked over to Macarena and Zulema who had just released Macarena's hips. 

"Corporal Zahir" Helena said, standing up straight and saluting Zulema. Her eyes already showing Zulema how irritated she was.

"Martìn." Zulema nodded, signaling for the Sargeant to stop saluting. She had ofcourse already noticed the look Helena was giving her so she nodded her head towards the other side of the room, signaling for Helena to follow her.

Walking over to the side of the room, where they were sure none of the Cadettes could hear them. Even with all the gunshots sounding in the room, they always played it extremely safe when it came to hiding their relationship at the base. 

"Zule... That was totally inappropriate." Helena said, her face showing noting but anger.

Zulema's expression changed to a confused one.

"What was inappropriate?" She asked, genuinely confused as to what she had done. 

"Why were you standing so close to the blonde? Why were you touching her?"

Helena's eyes searched for Zulema's without any succes as the corporal rolled her eyes away before staring at a blank space on the wall. 

"Helena, you're acting like I took _la Rubia_ and fucked her right before your eyes." Zulema scoffed.

"I bet you wanted to, with the way you were looking at her and smiling at her." Helena said, looking over at the cadettes for a second to make sure nobody was paying attention to them. 

" _Joder_ , listen to yourself." Zulema turned herself around and started to walk away from her girlfriend.

A hand grabbed Zulema's sleeve and pulled her back. 

"Zulema, all I was saying is that it looked inappropriate." 

"I was helping the girl point he gun, she's not the only cadette that I've ever hel-." Zulema pauzes and flashed Helena a small smile as she finally understood what was going trough Helena's mind.

"You're jealous, Helena?" 

Zulema's emerald eyes gleamed with amusement. Helena was jealous at the sight of seeing Zulema touching another woman. Helena had never been jealous before, and if she ever was she never made it known. 

"Whatever, Zule." Helena said before walking away, back to the Cadettes. 

She was angry. Zulema always thought everything was a damn game. How could she just disregard her feelings and laugh it off as some kind of stupid jealousy. 

Sighing deeply, Zulema decided to just let Helena be angry until she had time and energy to deal with her. Right now she had something to figure out, something important.

She needed to know why Leopoldo's daughter was here at her base. Was it some wicked coincidence or was it perhaps planned? Either way she had to find out. 

"Ferreiro" she called out. 

The younger woman turned around, their eyes met once again. For a split second Zulema felt something inside her stir. She quickly brushed it off and stepped closer to the blonde. 

"Meet me in my office in 15 minutes" Zulema said. 

Macarena saluted the Corporal, like she was thought to do and a quick "Yes ma'am" escaped her mouth before she watched Zulema walk away. 

______________________

A few minutes want by and Macarena asked Helena if she could be excused. She didn't explain why because she didn't want the Sargeant to think she was in some kind of trouble. 

The Sargeant shot her a look of pure disgust, confusing Maca completely. She had been nothing but friendly all morning, why was she suddenly acting like this?

Maca ignored Helena's suddenly changed demeanor and waited for an answer. 

"Yes, Cadette." Finally an answer came, along with a deep sigh. 

Macarena saluted Helena quickly before walking away towards Zulema's office. 

She wondered what the corporal wanted to see her for. She had followed all the rules she was given, so she was almost completely sure that she wasn't in any trouble. 

Macarena reached the office, a golden plate with the name 'Corporal Z. Zahir' was placed on the door. It made Macarena wonder what the dark haired woman's first name could be. 

She took a deep breath before knocking on the door, mentally preparing herself to be alone in a room with the corporal, because for some reason, the woman made her feel something. Something strange, something she hadn't felt before. 

"Come in." Zulema's voice called from the other side of the door. 

"Hello corporal. You wanted to see me ma'am?" Macarena made her way to Zulema's desk. 

She looked around the room. The walls were a dark grey. The desk, the file cabinets and almost every other piece of furniture in the office was black. Right behind the Corporal's desk there was a tank. It looked like a fishtank but there were no water inside, it could be some sort of tank for a reptile, a snake maybe?

"Ferreiro" Zulema got up from her chair and walked around her desk and stood there for a few seconds. She pointed to one of the chairs and spoke

"Siéntate"

Macarena did as she was told, and sat down. She watched as Zahir made her way back behind her desk before sitting down again.

"Don't worry, you're not in any trouble. I just have a few questions, that's all." Zulema said.

"Why are you here... At the base I mean?" The strange question took Macarena by surprise. 

If she remembered correctly, she passed all the mental and physical testing to get her into the army training program, just like everyone else at the base did. 

"I don't understand?..." Macarena was confused. Did the corporal call her into the office just to ask her that?

"Why did you sign up to be a cadette. I checked your file, you finished college, you were on the brink of starting an amazing career with a degree like that." Zulema said, she sat back, waiting for an answer. 

Macarena was silent for a while after Zulema spoke. 

"My father was a soldier too." Macarena fidgeted with a lose piece of lint that stuck out from her pants.

"He died" she added. 

Zulema shifted uncomfortably in her chair. 'damnit' Zulema thought to herself.

"I'm.. so sorry to hear that, Macarena. My condolences."

The way the corporal used her first name and the suddenly much softer tone comming from the brunette made Macarena look up again. Their eyes locked and Macarena felt as if those eyes were staring right into her soul. Her next breath came out shaky. 

Zulema noticed and decided to quickly get back on the subject. The faster she found out what the reason for the blonde being here at her base was, the better. 

"I'm Really sorry to hear about your father, but, that still doesn't explain why you joined the army." The tone of her voice still not back to it's icy self. 

"I- I came here to honor him. I came here to become just as good of a person as he was." 

Macarena pauzes and bit her lower lip, this conversation was making her a bit more emotional than she thought it would.

"I miss him. And being here just makes me... Feel close to him."

Macarena's eyes slowly filled with tears but she didn't let them spill, she was a soldier now and she wanted to be strong. For him. 

Zulema couldn't help but to feel sorry for the young woman in front of her. She herself had lost her fair share of people, grief was something she was very familiar with.

She could see the truthfulness in the hazel eyes. 

"How did he die?" Zulema asked plainly.

The question took Macarena by surprise. It was a strange question to ask, but then again, the corporal was a strange woman.

"He went on a mission in the middle east, he couldn't say exactly where or what kind of mission because it was classified. Three weeks later we heard he was killed in combat." Macarena's tears finally spilled onto her checks. 

Zulema supressed the sudden need she felt to wipe them away. 

"Macarena..." Zulema got up from her chair and moved closer to the blonde sitting in front of her desk and placed her hand on top of hers.

"We're going to make sure you become a soldier your father would be proud of." 

"Thank you Corporal." Macarena whispered. Once again letting the tears spill from hey eyes, onto her lap. A small sob escaped the blonde.

It was almost instinctive, the way Macarena let her thumb swipe back and forward on Zulema's hand, silently thanking her again.

Before Zulema could say anything, or even pull her hand away, the door to her office flew open. 

"Zulema..." Helena's voice filled the room before she even noticed that Zulema wasn't alone in the office. 

It was then that Macarena found out what the Corporal's first name was. 

_Zulema_. 

A beautiful name. It was also an Arabic name. Putting an end to Macarena's suspicion about the woman not being Spanish, not fully at least. 

"Yes Sargeant?..." Zulema spoke in a calm tone. Before pulling her hand away from Macarena's and stepping back. She knew Helena must be furious after seeing her and the blonde cadette this close to each other, practically holding hands in her office. 

Helena couldn't believe her eyes. There was no fucking way that she just walked into Zulema's office, to catch her holding hands with the same cadette they had just argued about. 

She fixed her composure, standing up straight, not trying to make it too obvious that she was upset, especially with Macarena in the room.

Helena tried her best to keep her voice from shaking with anger. "Am I interupting something... Ma'am?." 

"No macar- Cadette Ferreiro was just leaving." Zulema answered, nodding at Macarena as a sign for her to leave the room. 

"Thank you, ma'am."Macarena said as she got up. She saluted Zulema before she slipped passed Helena and out if the office door. 

" _Por el amor de Dios,_ Zulema. what the fuck was that?!" Helena's eyes spat fire when she yelled at her girlfriend as soon as the door closed behind Macarena. 

"Nothing. That was nothing." Zulema said, calmly.

She was not in the mood to have a conversation about something this stupid with Helena right now. 

Helena scoffed.

"Nevermind then... I have cadettes to train." She walked out and threw Zulema's door shut, with such force it formed a 'bang' echoing trough the room. 

___________________________

At the end of a long day filled with training and being yelled at by their sargeants, Maca returned to block 6 where Rizos fell into the bed somewhat theatrically, exaggerating how tired she was.

"That was the longest day ever." Macarena sighed as she layed down in the bed also. 

Suddenly Rizos' shot up to a sitting position. 

"Why did the corporal call you to her office? Are you in trouble?" The curly haired girl almost forgot that her new friend was called into the corporals office earlier that day. 

Macarena shrugged, "Actually no. She just wanted to know why I signed up for the army..."

"Okay but, Why? " Rizos asked. Everybody at the base went trough the same questioning and physical training before joining the army. Why would they still question Macarena's motivation? 

"I don't know... Maybe she thought my aim this morning during training was so horrible that she wondered what I am even doing here." Macarena half joked.

Macarena hadn't thought about why the corporal would single her out like that and ask her why she joined the army in the first place. She had to admit is was kind of strange. 

"I'd be absolutely terrified! The corporal is pretty intimidating" Rizos said, making a scared face.

"Well yes, but in a good way right?" Macarena asked, before she thought about how that might sound to the other woman.

"Wait." Rizos got closer to her friend and continued in a hushed tone so that nobody else in the room could hear them, "Maca, you have a crush on Corporal Zahir?"

" _Oh Dios mío_ , you do!" Rizos' eyes got big as she saw Macarena's face getting slightly red as she was trying to hide her awkwardness towards the question. 

"No!" Macarena said. 

The curly haired girl squeeled and kicked her feet in the air like an exited teenager, "Oh you SO do!"

Macarena could feel herself starting to blush even more as she thought about it. Rizos' might just be right.

"I mean , she's very interesting...." Mava admitted softly.

"Oh maca." Rizos faked a shocked face before she continued, "I think you might just get into some REAL trouble. Haven't you heard the rumours?" She smirked. 

Macarena laughed.

"No because unlike you, I don't gossip during training, I actually train." She said but shrugged slightly, signaling for Rizos' to continue talking.

"Well, there is this rumor that Corporal Zahir and Sargeant Martìn are sleeping together. A former cadettes said she saw them kiss once."

Maca's eyes got big, there was no way this was true. Zulema didn't seem like the type of person to get into a conflict of interest like that. No, the raven haired woman seemed way to grounded and diciplined. Also Helena and Zulema didn't seem compatable at all. 

Macarena found the whole rumor hilarious, she laughed and shook her head. 

"No way? Juicy stuff! Maybe I should joint your little gossiping group with There and Yolanda during training." The blonde said sarcastically as she undid her the tight bun in her hair, getting ready for the few hours of sleep they were permitted to have. 

Moments later the lights in block 6 were off and soft snores would be heard around the room. Macarena let her mind Wander.

_fuck, I really do like her."_

Once again, the last thing she saw before drifting off to sleep were a pair of green eyes staring at her. 

______________________

A knock sounded on Helena's door, she put the book that she was reading down and got up from her bed to walk towards the door. 

"Quién es?" Her voice barely made it's way to the other side of the door before it opened. 

Zulema stepped inside of the room and shut the door behind her, locking it quickly.

The look on Helena's face was pure anger, as expected.

"Zulema, get out. I don't want to talk to you."She said, sitting back down on her bed, expecting her girlfriend to leave the room again. 

For a second Zulema thought about walking out again, that's what she would usually do but, she looked at Helena, saw a hint of sadness in her eyes and something inside of her couldn't make her go back out that door. 

She loved Helena, and she needed te resolve whatever was going on between them right now. She walked over to the bed and sat down next to her girlfriend. 

"Zulema... again, I don't want to talk to you. Go bother that blonde cadette." She murmured before her eyes returned to her book. 

Zulema roughly yanked the book out of Helena's hand before throwing it across the room. She leaned forward and grabbed Helena's chin with one hand, forcing her to make eye contact. 

"Today in my office. Ferreiro and I were talking about a subject that was emotional for her and I was only trying to make her feel better." Zulema's tone was calm, she was really trying to get Helena to understand her,

"There is nothing going on, she's just a cadette." She added as she let go of Helena's face. 

Helena bit her bottom lip, " _Estas segura?_ " She asked, trying not to sound too vounarable. But the tears starting to form in her eyes were a dead giveaway as to how she really felt. 

She was scared to lose Zulema. For the past couple of years Zulema had been her only safe place, she did not want to lose that to a stupid cadette.

"Don't worry. I'm all yours." Zulema said with her signature little smirk. 

Helena rolled her eyes before leaning in and kissing her girlfriend. It took about three seconds before zulema decided to pull Helena on top of her, making the younger woman straddle her.

Zulema's hands automatically moved to Helena's hips, holding her steady, squeezing them, enjoying how the soft flesh molded itself against her hands. 

Zulema kissed her girlfriend tenderly, gently, tasting her lips and breathing in her sweet scent. And Helena kissed back, closing her eyes and moaning softly as Zulema started to run her fingers through her silky hair.

Helena tried to keep herself from moaning too loud when she suddenly felt Zulema's hand pulling her head back by her hair, exposing her neck.

Zulema groaned and wrapped her arms around Helena's middle. In one quick move, she had the younger woman laying on her back, smiling devilishly on top of her as she looked into the deep brown eyes. 

Zulema leans down to connect their lips again in a bruising kiss, this time more urgent than before. 

Her hands quickly find Helena's t-shirt and pull it over her head before throwing it over her shoulder. Helena reached behind herself and unsnapped her own bra, letting it fall off her body. 

Helena suppressed a moan when she saw the pure lust in the older woman's eyes, looking at her now exposed upper body.

Zulema eagerly cups Helena's perky breasts and pushes her back into the prone position. Helena moans when her girlfriend pinches her nipples and her kisses her neck. 

The corporal's hands make quick work of pulling down Helena's underwear and jeans. She struggles getting them all the way off but they eventually land on the floor.

"I'm still angry at you be-" Helena started, but she wasn't able to finish whatever she was going to say. Instead she groaned.

Zulema chuckles softly at Helena's reaction when her hand snaked between them and found the younger woman's hard clit. 

"I'll make it up to you, _mi amor_ " zulema whispers into her ear. Her finger still lazily sliding over the hard nub at Helena's center. 

Helena shivers and bucks her hips at the sensation. Zulema always knew just what to say and where to touch and this time was no different. 

The raven haired woman without any warning slid two fingers inside of Helena who in turn threw her head back and moaned loudly. 

They were lucky Helena's room was on a completely other side of the base than the cadettes, they would have definitely been caught.

Zulema kissed and nipped at Helena's neck as she thrusted gently into her, enjoying the tightness around her fingers. 

"Fuck, Zule...."

Helena moans and bucks her hips in a hastily manner, trying to make Zulema's rhythm faster.

"You want more?" Zulema husked into her ear. 

Helena nodds her head quickly. Zulema pulls her two fingers out of her and pushes three fingers back in, roughly. The sensation almost became too much and Helena groaned and closed her eyes in pleasure. 

"Mírame." Zulema waited for Helena to open her eyes again 

"I'm yours." Zulema said right before adjusting her hand and rubbing her thumb against Helena's clit while still pumping in and out if her. Helena threw her head back once again and cried out in pleasure.

The older woman leaned in and connected their foreheads, their noses touching, her breath mixing with Helena's labored panths. 

“Come on, _mi amor_. Come on,” Zulema whispered to her girlfriend, not taking her eyes of her, feeling her body wright under her, eagerly waiting for Helena to climax. 

She buried her head in Zulema's neck and moans loudly. Her hips jerked and twitched as Zulema continued to fuck her.

"Zulema." Is the only word she repedietly knows how to moan before she comes down from her high. 

When Helena was completely calmed down Zulema eased her fingers out of her and kissed her cheek lightly. She layed down next to her girlfriend and they held echother. 

"Zulema?" Helena spoke, breaking their comfortable silence. 

"Yes?" 

Helena sat up a little, but not enough to break their embrace. She locked eyes with Zulema and whispered, "Don't break my heart."

Zulema was silent. Helena had never been the jealous type. They had been dating for quite some time and this was the first time the younger woman expressed her feelingsbwith such vulnerability.

"What makes you think I would break your heart?" She finally answered. " _La Rubia?_ " She added, arching her eyebrow at Helena. 

"Zule, it's like our relationship has become this-" she paused and searched for the right words, knowing Zulema could take things quite literally. 

"It's become a bit of a slur. We never even go out together like we used to" she said said, "I feel like we're drifting apart." 

They never had such an in depth conversation about either of their feelings like this. It was new and quite frankly, it kind ofbscared Helena to be this open to her girlfriend. 

"And the whole Ferreiro thing isn't exactly helping." Helena added in a sarcastic tone, trying not to make the conversation heavier than it already was. 

Zulema sighed. "I didn't know you felt like this. Why didn't you tell me sooner?" 

"I don't know, I think seeing you with that cadette, was kind of a wake up call."

"You have nothing to worry about, _mi amor_." 

"Are you sure?" 

"You know what. This weekend, on our day of how about you and I go out? Have some fun? Just the two of us." 

"I'd like that very much."

"Okay. It's a date." Zulema smiled at Helena and wrapped her arms around the younger woman. They stayed like that for a while. Peacefully. 

When Helena's breathing slowed down and Zulema was certain that the younger woman was asleep, she silently and slowly made her way out of the bed, Carefull not to wake up her girlfriend. 

She kissed Helena's forehead once more before she padded across the room and disappeared out of the door.

_______________

About an hour later, after Zulema had the chance to freshen up. She sat at the edge of her bed, a cigarette burning between her lips while she tried to clear her head. 

She pushed away the thoughts about how Helena felt their relationship was drifting. She pushed away the conversation she had with Macarena Ferreiro in her office. She pushed away the huge stack of files that she still had to work trough that week. 

She pushed everything in her mind away and all they she was left with, was a set of hazel eyes. 

No. 

_Joder_ , no.

'What the fuck was that?' Zulema mentally cursed herself for even letting her mind wander towards the blonde cadette again. There was no way she could actually be attracted to the woman, right? 

Four knocks in a familiar rhythm sounded on the door and they pulled Zulema from her thoughts. 

'Saray' Zulema thought. Nobody else knocks on the door the same way she does. In all the years that they knew echother Zulema had come to know every little thing about Saray.

Vice versa, Saray also knew almost everything there was to know about Zulema also. 

Sometimes it almost scared Zulema how well the other woman knew her. She had never trusted anyone the way she trusted Saray. There were not many things that Scared Zulema but trusting others was one of the few things that did. 

"Yes, come in" Zulema spoke. 

The door opened and Saray stepped inside the room. The room was filled with a thick cloud of grey smoke that come from Zulema's cigarette.

" _Coño_ , are you trying to smoke yourself to death, Zule?" Saray coughed loudly as she walked over to Zulema's window and opened it. 

"Did you talk to the general about transferring Ferreiro's daughter?" Saray walked over to Zulema's bed and sat down next to her. 

Zulema remained silent.

Saray snapped her fingers in Zulema's face, gaining her attention again. 

"I talked to her today, she was placed here because her family is one of the main sponsors of the base. Her dad used to train here when he was a cadette himself and half of his fortune was send to us after he died and multiple of their family's companies are major sponsors for the army."

Saray's eyes went wide, she struggled to even think of something to respond with. 

"That's why she can't transfer?"

"I spoke on the phone with general Silva and he said unless we have a genuine serious problem with Ferreiro, there is no way he could risk losing her family as a sponsor."

Saray got up from the bad and started pacing around the room. 

"What if she finds out!" Saray closed her eyes, imagining the shit they would be in if Macarena found out the secret they have been keeping. 

"How would she find out? You and I are the only ones that know, Saray." Zulema said, her words spitting venom at the _gitana_. 

"Well, obviously, I just don't want a constant reminder of what happened during that mission walking around at the base."saray said, shaking her head before looking at Zilema's again.

"Especially not when you clearly have the hotts for her." She added.

Zulema almost choked on her cigarette as she started coughing. _'Dios, first Helena, now Saray too?'_ she thought to herself.

"I don't have the hotts for her saray. That would be crazy." She spoke after she cought her breath. 

"Yes Zulema, absolutely crazy." Saray looked at her friend with a warning look I'll her eyes, silently telling her to not mess with the blonde. 

Saray got up from the bed and walked to the door, "I don't like that she's here, Zule." She said pointing at Zulema, signaling for the older woman to fix this mess. 

"What more do you want me to do?" Zulema half yelled right before a frustrated Saray walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her, not even answering her.e

Right after the door shut, Zulema immediately plopped onto her bed. 

Macarena Ferreiro could possibly cause a fuckton of trouble. And still, for some reason, Zulema wanted to know more about the young woman. 

And when she closed her eyes she could still remember the exactbsmell of the blonde locks that she inhaled this morning.

' _fuck I'm already in trouble'_ she tought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter was ok! It was kind of a bridge chapter and also an excuse to write Zulema/Helena smut. 😂 I PROMISE to post the next chapter on time, It's almost done. 
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want, I would love to know what you thought about the chapter and / or if you have any suggestions.


	3. Combat training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! I'm back again with another chapter!  
> Thank you all for your comments in the last chapter! They really motivated me! I hope you guys don't hate me after reading the last part of this chapter! 😅
> 
> Happy reading! Please leave a comment if you want!

Chapter 3 

Rizos coughed loudly, again as maca handed her the bottle of water. 

" _Joder_ , I feel like shit." The curly haired girl spoke, her voice sounding weak. She had a terrible headache and her throat hurt like a motherfucker, she was sure she had a fever too. 

"You'll be fine. Just get some more sleep, Rizos." Macarena placed a comforting hand on Rizos' shoulder and smiled at her. 

The caramel Skinned girl had been coughing all night, earning quite a few frustrated groans from the other cadettes trying to sleep in the room. 

Macarena had advised her to stay in bed for the day. There was a special form that had to be filled out whenever a cadette wanted to take a day off. She helped Rizos fill it in and brought it to the front desk of the base for her. Then she made sure Rizos had some breakfast and enough water until she could come back to check up on her.

" _Gracias_ , Maca." Rizos smiled at macarena, "Do you think you'll be okay today, alone at training?" She asked.

"I'm going to be fine, you just focus on getting better." Maca answered. 

The two of them were definitely not popular amongst their fellow cadettes, they were disliked, even.

Macarena was disliked because of her preppy looks, her wealthy background and the way she mostly spoke very properly. Rizos was simply disliked because she was friends with Macarena. Some of the other cadettes liked to gossip with Rizos' every now and then during training but that ended as soon as Maca even looked their way. They basically only had each other as friends at the base for now. Maybe with time, the others would start to warm up to them only time would tell. 

"Everybody! Let's go! Corporal Zahir will kill us if we're late to her training." Another cadette yelled into the room, making everyone exit the room quickly. They already knew better than to be late for Zahir's training. 

"I'll be back during lunch!" Macarena said, she gave Rizos a reasuring smile. 

She grabbed her own bottle of water her self-made sandwiches for lunch and left the room, following the others through the hallways. 

The group of cadettes reached the training area where Corporal Zahir was already waiting for them.

As soon as Macarena walked into the room, Zulema cought herself staring at the blonde cadette for a bit too long. She quickly tore her eyes away from the woman and started speaking. 

" _Buenos días,_ everyone." 

The cadettes saluted their Corporal like they were thought to do. Zulema then proceeded to explain what they were going to be practicing that day.

She asked one of the cadettes to assist her in explaining the exercise, using him a an example. They were going to be practicing several moves that targeted the vounrable parts of the body, making your opponant lose their balance and fall down. 

The group watches attentively as Zulema pushed the cadette down while hooking her foot behind him, making him turn and fall on his side, quite roughly with Zulema on top of him. They quickly got up as she showed it again.

"Pair up in teams of two, make sure you have enough space to practice." Zulema told them when she was sure everyone understood the moves she showed them. 

She made her way to the corner of the room, where she could stand and keep an eye on everyone. She was trying her hardest to not look in Macarena's direction but, that failed miserably as the blonde started walking her way.

' _joder_ ' Zulema silently cursed.

"Ma'am" Macarena's eyes found Zulema's, "I have nobody to partner up with, everybody already has a partner."

Zulema felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand at the sound of the blondes voice. This was the exact reason why she needed Macarena to stay away from her. How was this woman having this effect on her? 

"Where is your partner in crime, Kabila?" Zulema asked, lifting an eyebrow at the blonde.

"She's sick today, Corporal" Macarena answered.

Zulema sighed. She truly tried her best at avoiding the blonde, but it seemed like right now she didn't have any other choice but interact with her. 

"Let's go then." Zulema walked to a free spot in the room, signaling for Macarena to follow her. They were going to be practicing together.

"Okay _Rubia_ , I'll push you and you try to block me like I just explained." Zulema said and without any warning she got closer and softly pushed Macarena.

Macarena in turn grabbed Zulema's arm and pulled her close, for a few seconds their faces were so close that they could feel eachother's breath. Macarena could swear she saw the Corporal's eyes travel to her lips for a second. Fuck, being this close to Zulema made her feel hot all over. 

Then Macarena hooked her foot behind Zulema, she pushed the raven haired woman on the ground, while falling in top of her, just like the way shown she was before. 

As if the proximity to the older woman wasn't enough, Zulema groaned softly as she hit the ground. The sound traveling from Macarena's ears straight to her core. She had to bite her lip to prevent a moan from escaping.

Zulema looked up at her, she saw Macarena bite her lip as she looked at her. The way they fell down, she could feel the the younger woman's body molded against her own. She could feel breasts pressed against her arm and legs straddling her. 

' _Oh, Dios_.'

She quickly pushed the blonde off her and stood up again. She cleared her throat and spoke. 

"That was good but you need to be quicker when you turn you opponent around as you push." 

She stepped back and nodded, a signal for Macarena to push her, so she could show her how to properly execute the move.

Macarena pushed against Zulema's shoulders. Before she could even figure out what was going on, she was on the ground, Zulema was on top of her.   
A strand of Zulema's black hair escaped from her ponytail and brushed against the sensitive skin if Macarena's neck, making Macarena shiver.

Zulema's body pressed up against hers, she could feel the older woman breathing, moving against her. 

"Okay and when you have your opponant on the ground, you place your leg here, so they can't move." Zulema said, no whispered to Macarena. 

She placed her leg in between the blondes and applied more weight. 

Macarena's breath hitched. Zulema's leg was so close to... there. she looked up at Zulema and found the green eyes stare at her, intensly. Macarena felt herself getting flustered by all of it.

Zulema was aware of where her leg was placed. It was just a few inches higher than it actually needed to be but when she saw the reaction from the blonde cadette, she decided to keep her leg there for just a few more seconds than necessary. 

'What the hell am I doing?'

Zulema tore her eyes away from Macarena before she finally got up and looked at the clock. There were abouy 10 more minutes till the lunch break started. But she needed Macarena to leave the room. She couldn't be around her for much longer.

  
"Cadettes! Go have an early lunch." Zulema ordered everyone to leave the room.

As soon as everyone, including Macarena had left the room Zulema walked over to one of the he large punching bags in the room.

'I'm a fucking idiot.' she thought as she delived her first hard blow to the bag in front of her. Making the Chains rumble loudly as it swang. 

'What is wrong with me?!' another punch even harder than the first one had been. 

'Why can't I controle my fucking feelings?' another punch.

Then she let there thoughts wander back that mission. That horrible mission and how it all went south in the blink of an eye. How could she even think about Macarena like this, knowing what happened to her father was completely her fault. 

With that thought, Zulema started pounding the bag uncontrollably, over and over. Letting all her frustration, confusion and anger unleash as the punching bag agressivly swung back and forward. Tears filled her eyes, threatening to slip out any moment now.

Then when she was tired, and her body didn't have the energy to hit the bag anymore, she just screamed.

She screamed loudly and she finally allowed the tears to escape.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" The familiar voice sounded behind Zulema. 

Zulema quickly wiped away her tears and turned around to face the blonde cadette. 

She rolled her shoulders, fixing her composure back to the Corporal everyone knew and feared. 

"Why are you here? You're on lunch break, cadette Ferreiro." Zulema looked at Macarena, trying her best to hide the emotiom on her face. 

"I forgot my water bottle ma'am." Macarena said, she walked over to where she had left her bottl and picked it up from the floor, keeping her eyes in Zulema. 

She thought about walking out of the room right away, she wouldn't want to upset the Corporal even more than she obviously already was.

Right before she was about to leave the room, she heard a small sniffle come from Zulema. This instantly made maca turn around and slowly walk over to where Zulema was standing.

"Hey, _estas bien_?" She asked the raven haired woman who was still doing a pretty good job at hiding any emotion on her face.

"I'm fine..." Zulema answered.

She really wasn't fine. She was confused, she was mostly confused and angry at herself because she felt something for Macarena she shouldn't be feeling at all. 

Macarena flashed a small smile. "You're obviously not fine Corporal." She placed a hand on Zulema's arm and rubbed up and down, trying to offer some comfort. 

There it was again. That spark between them as they looked in eachothers eyes. It was like they were staring straight into each other soals. 

Zulema cleared her throat, making Macarena take her hand off the older woman. 

"Macarena, thank you for your concern but, you should go have lunch and so should I." She said. 

"I- uhm... I have an extra sandwich, my motger makes her own marmalade I took some of it with me when I came to the base. It makes anyone feel better..." 

Macarena held up a see trough tupperware box with a few sandwiches in it. She opened it up and took a sandwich out, offering it to Zulema. 

"What are we? Nine years old?"Zulema said half jokingly as she took the sandwich from Macarena. 

Macarena sat down on the floor and looked up at Zulema. "Do you want to have lunch with me here, I don't really feel like sitting in the cantene alone."

"I don't think that's...." Zulema started. It wasn't inappropriate to have lunch with a cadette but it wasn't something she had ever done before either. 

She looked at Macarena, the hazel eyes looked up at her questioningly, and for some unknown reason she felt like she couldn't say no. 

"Sure, that would be nice." The Arab woman answered as she sat down on the floor, acrossss from Macarena. 

"So..." Macarena started, "you sure know how to throw a punch..." She said, referring to Zulema punching the punching bag a few minutes ago. 

"I'm sorry you had to see that. I was just... a bit frustrated." Zulema said, not looking at the blonde, for some reason she was a bit ashamed that maca had seen her punching the bag and heard her screaming out in frustration.

"That's okay, it was actually pretty badass." Macarena laughed a little before her face changed back to a more concerned expression. 

"Whatever it was, I hope you feel better soon." Macarena said. 

Zulema was silent for a while. Leopoldo sure raised a wonderful daugher. She had to admit the young woman didn't look like her father at all. She was beautiful on the outside, but clearly on the inside also.

"This marmalade is so good!" Zulema said, aiming to change the subject.

Macarena got the silent hint to stop talking about Zulema's feelings and smiled before she answered.

"My mom makes it herself from fresh ingredients from her garden."

Zulema took another bite of the sandwich, " That's great. You must miss her, _no_?"

Macarena's face got sad for a moment, "Yes,I really do." She answered, "Don't you miss your family, back home? How do you deal with it?" She asked.

Zulema shrugged her shoulders a little. "I don't really have family, except for my daughter." 

" _Tienes una hija_?" Macarena asked, curiously.

If Zulema had a daughter. Dit that mean she had been married before? It just made Macarena even more curious about the woman.   
  
"Yes, she just turned 17." Zulema answered. 

Macarena noticed Zulema's eyes light up right away as she spoke about her daughter. 

"Is that whose name you have tattood on your arm?" She asked. 

Zulema nodded firmly, "Fàtima"

Before she could ask any more questions, Macarena's phone vibrated. When she saw Rizos name pop up on the screen, she opened the text message right away.

r u still coming here 4 lunch?

Macarena quickly typed a response to the text as she got up from the floor. 

"I have to go, Rizos needs me." She spoke, giving Zulema an apologetic look. 

Zulema looked up at the blonde, "I hope she feels better soon." She said.

"Thank you, Zulema." 

Macarena didn't even notice she had said Zulema's first name until she saw the look in the woman's face.

"Oh, _lo siento_ , Ma'am. I overheard Sargeant Martìn say your first name the other day in you office and I just think it's a really beautiful name so I-" 

Zulema laughed, making Macarena stop her rambling.

Zulema was a little surprised at the fact that Macarena had said her actual first name but she decided not to make a big deal out of it. 

"It's okay _Rubia_. Go to Rizos, she needs you." Zulema spoke.

They stared at eachother for another few moments, bofore Macarena finally decided to leave the room. 

Just before Macarena walked out the door, she felt Zulema's hand on her shoulder. She turned around wich made her stand closer to Zulema than she intended. Again, they were so closer they could feel eachothers breathe. 

"Thank you, _Rubia_." Zulema said. "For the sandwich." She added.

Unable to answer, because of how close Zulema was to her, Macarena tire her eyes away from Zulema's and just smiled and disappeared out of the door.   
_____________________

Macarena walked into block 6, where Rizos was still in bed, waiting for her to bring lunch. 

They sat together and ate while they talked about whatever funny news Rizos had found on instagram that day while she had staryed in bed. 

"Oh, and look what I found! A cute little bar! We could go out tomorrow! It's our day off!" Rizos said, as she showed Macarena the instagram page of a bar called ' _La Taraza_ '. 

"Sounds great! I could definitely use a nice break." Macarena said with enthusiasm in her voice. 

A few minutes later, Macarena's lunch break was over and she had to get to her next training, durability training from Sargeant Hierro. It was going to be exhausting, like it always was.   
____________________

It was 11 PM and helena and Zulema had just finished a late dinner in Zulema's room.

"Where are we going tomorrow?" Helena asked, referring to the date Zulema had promised they would go on the next day. 

They were in bed, Helena had asked Zulema if she could sleep in her room that night and Zulema had ofcourse said yes.

"I was thinking maybe _'La Taraza_ '?" Zulema answered.

Zulema and Helena used to go to the small bar almost every week when they first started dating eachother. It was a not so well known bar, pretty far away from the base, with a hotel right next to it, in case they got to drunk to drive back the same night. It was perfect because none of the cadettes knew it even existed, it felt like their special place.

"Sounds great." Helena said, placing a small kiss on Zulema's cheek. They snuggled up to asleep in eachothers arms. 

Right before she fell asleep, even with Helena wrapped around her snoring softly in her neck, all that Zulema saw when she closed her eyes was the image of a certain blonde looking up at her during defense training. 

_'Coño'_ she thought as she tried her hardest to fall asleep.

_"Karim, please! Let her Go!" Zulema begged desperately, the tone in her voice consumed by pain as tears streamed down her face uncontrollably._

_"If you want me to let your friend go, you just have to tell me where your camp is, Zulema." Karim harshly brought the knife down into Saray's leg once more, making the gitana yell out in pain, loudly. Saray was already covered in bruises from the beatings she had received. She was to battered to even do anything else than scream and cry._

_Zulema started sobbing, she felt hopeless, she couldn't betray her soldiers, who were waiting for them to return to the camp, but she also couldn't bare the sight of her only friend, her gitana, being tortured right in front of her. Saray was the only person in the world who cared for her, who loved her._

_"I can't tell you, I can't betray my soldiers, Karim PLEASE!" Zulema cried, knowing Karim way too wel to know he wouldn't budge no matter how much she begged._

_"Habibi, I hate seeing you cry. All I need is the coordinates of your camp." Karim's voice was calm, fatherly almost. He would never hurt Zulema, she was like a daughter to him, but he needed information from her and this was the easiest way to get it. He couldn't care less if Zulema's friend had to die._

_"Zahir, don't you dare tell him anything." The voice of the older man who was tied up next to saray sounded sternly._

_The three of them had been ambushed and kidnapped while they were on their way to picking up more supplies that had just been dropped off somewhere in the dessert. Zulema hadn't been shocked to see Karim. She knew he had ties with the Terrorists organisation. He was dangerous, and he wouldn't hesitate killing Saray if it meant getting the slightest bit of information out of Zulema._

_"Shut up, Ferreiro!" Zulema roared at the man, she was trying to think._

_General Leopoldo Ferreiro had declined joining this mission in the first place, he wanted to spend more time with his family, he had a wife, two children and he was getting older. Headquarters had promised him twice the normal pay, as he was perfect for the job._

_Zulema heard Saray Scream out once again, as Karim stabbed her twice more._

_Her face scrunched up in a painful expression as she reached a decision. She closed her eyes in defeat and silently prayed for her soldiers to forgive her._

_She slowly started speaking, looking Karim right in the eyes, so he could see the hurt in them._

_"29 58 North 32 33 East. It's in an old school building."_

_Karim smiled and then in Arabic, ordered some of the other man to send an airstrike over the coördinates Zulema just gave them._

_About half an our later, Karim got a phone call that the airstrike had hit and killed everyone in the building._

_He nodded at the other men in the room to undo the restraints on the three Spanish soldiers._

_"Good girl. We'll bring you right back to where we found you in the dessert. You can all act like this never happened." Karim said._

_"Idiota! You just killed 21 Spanish soldiers, Zahir!" Ferreiro yelled at the raven haired woman, his eyes practically spitting fire at her as they were being dragged out if the building._

_They were placed in the back of a big truck, along with a few armed men, making sure they didn't try to escape. They drove for about an hour before they were roughly thrown out of the truck. Making a wounded Saray groan out in pain._

_A few feet away was their own truck that they had used earlier that day, exactly where they had left it._

_Before they had the chance to walk away Karim's voice called out to Zulema in the Arabic language._

_"Not a word about this to your superiors, habibi." He said before the truck drive off, leaving a cloud of desert dust in it's trail._

_Zulema didn't even bother to translate what Karim just told her and kept walking towards their vehicle. She needed to take care of Saray's wounds and then get the fuck out of that fucking desert._

_She took the first aid kit from the truck and started cleaning the stabwounds on Saray's legs and arms, earning the occasional hiss from the woman as the alcohol touched a new wound._  
  
_"Cómo te sientes, Saray?" Zulema asked as she was almost done stitching up the last wound._

_Sarah didn't even look up at the corporal. She felt like this whole thing was her fault. Zulema was protective of her and their friendship caused 21 soldiers to die from a fucking airstrike._

_"Like shit, Zule. I feel like shit." She answered as a single year made it's way down her face._

_Leopoldo had been pacing back and forward the whole time Zulema was busy with Saray's wounds._

_"I can't believe you didn't his, Zahir. You betrayed those soldiers" he said, his voice sounding like pure hatred._

_"They train at your base for years, they trust you and this is how you repay them?" He added, looking at the muslim woman with pure disgust._

_Zulema didn't know how to respond and looked at her best friend for any reaction._

_"Saray?" Zulema said, hoping for a response to the situation but, saray looked up at her and shook her head, she didn't know how to react either._

_This situation was so fucked up._

_Zulema scoffed, "You get to go home to your family, Ferreiro, be grateful." She knew what she was saying didn't make any sense, nobody would be grateful to be in this position._

_"Grateful? How am I supposed to look at my family knowing I betrayed their beloved country?" Leopoldo answered angrily._

_"Let's just get back to headquarters. I want to forget this ever happened." Saray said. She was tired of this failed mission, she had been brutally tortured for hours as Karim questioned Zulema. Right now, she just wanted to go home._

_"You're fucked when we get to headquarters, you're going to jail for giving that info to those pigs, Zahir." Ferreiro Said , pointing his finger at Zulema, making a silent promise._

_Zulema's eyes got big. As she realized that she could be in big trouble. Not only would she be losing her job and honer, she would be going to jail for breaking her oath. She would be questioned endlessly until she gave up everything she knew about Karim, wich would result in Karim going after the one thing he could easily get to wich he knew she cared about more than anything._

_Fàtima._

_No._

_That couldn't happen._

_"If you say anything about what happened, Karim will find us and kill all three of us. He could hurt our families." She told Leopoldo, hoping he would understand and just let it go._

_"We have to pretend this never happened" she added._

_Leopoldo shook his head. "I can't do that." He scoffed, "I'm not a traitor like you."_

_"Leave her alone, haven't, you heard what she said? Karim is dangerous. we'll just have to keep this a secret!" Saray yelled. "A horrible one." she added._

_Saray was definitely not happy with the decision Zulema had made to choose her life over that of 21 others but she was alive right now because of Zulema's love for her. And just like she had aways done before, she was going to be on Zulema's side all the way till the end._

_"Leopoldo, your family will without a doubt be killed if you ever disclose this to headquarters." Zulema tried again. Hoping he would change his mind._

_"I can't betray my country like this." Leopoldo said._

_"If we tell, our families die along with us. Karim will not stop until everyone we love is dead."_

_The realization hit Leopoldo like a train. He had two options, keep this secret and go back home as a traitor with no real honor or disclose all of this to headquarters and put his family in danger._

_No, he actually did have another option._

_Zulema watched as Leopoldo lifted his pistol slightly, he was going to shoot at her. She was sure of it. Her heart started beating like a jackhammer as the adrenaline rushed trough her veins._

_She turned quickly to grab her own gun from the truck, but before she could even turn back, she heard the gunshot._

_BANG!_

_Zulema screamed, she was sure these were her final moments. Was this really how she was going to die?_

_"Zulema" she heard Saray scream wich made her realize she wasn't dead. She wasn't even hurt._

_She turned around and saw Ferreiro laying on the ground. He has shot himself trough the head._

_"NO!" Zulema exclaimed as she rushed over to him. But it was too late. He was dead, because of her and her decision to betray all of those soldiers._

Zulema shot up from her pillow into a sitting position. Her breathing was fast and irregular. She was covered in a thin layer of sweat. She could feel her heart beating fast against her chest. 

_"Puta mierda."_ She sighed into the darkness.

Her eyes found the alarm clock on her nightstand. 4 AM. She looked at the sleeping woman next to her. Helena was still soundly asleep next to her.

She groaned from frustration, there was no way she could go back to sleep after dreaming about that damn mission again. 

She was happy that the next day was her day off, she could just have a few drinks and forget about the mission and Macarena for a night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was that. Now we know what happened during that mission. Pls don't hate me. 😂 I'm going to update soon again, definitely within a week!

**Author's Note:**

> So, I hope ya'll liked it. Please leave a comment about what you thought! I'll update next week, maybe even sooner. BYEEE!


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